This paper seeks to explain why some individuals sink further into states of flow than others, and what effects flow has in the context of a virtual education environment. Our findings gathered from both questionnaire and behavioural data reveal that flow states are elicited by the e-learners senses of controlling the virtual educationenvironment, their attention centred on the learning activity, and their feelings ofphysically being in such an environment. We bring evidence about three benefits from flow states: they facilitate e-learner's positive emotions, they enhance e-learners academic performance, and they contribute to students effective continuance in e-learning.